I still can’t quite believe it. A few weeks ago, now, my U.S. publisher’s publicity person, Laura, emailed me with “THE BEST news.” Even though Laura never capitalizes like that, I was quite unprepared for what came next. ESPERANCE HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR THE L.A. TIMES BOOK PRIZE IN SCIENCE FICTION!!! I feel like the father in the movie A Christmas Story, who is over the moon because he has won “a major award.” Now, in A Christmas Story, it has to be said that the major award turned out to be a plastic lamp in the shape of a lady’s stockinged leg, but being nominated for an L.A. Times Book Prize is the real deal. And I know it’s a cliché, but it really is an honor just to be nominated. The other nominees are Stephen Graham Jones, for “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter,” Jordan Kurella, for “The Death of Mountains,” Nnedi Okorafor, for “Death of the Author: A Novel,” and Silvia Park, for “Luminous: A Novel.” I’ve only read two of the four and I don’t know I’ll have time for the others before the award ceremony, but the two I read are just incredibly good, and the other two will undoubtedly be in the same league, so I am genuinely stunned to find myself in the same company. I do win for shortest title, though!
I will be ditching the day job to fly out to L.A. for a few days to attend the awards ceremony, the afterparty (I’ve never been to an afterparty—certainly not in L.A.!), and to sit on a panel the following day at the L.A. Festival of Books. The L.A. Festival of Books is reputedly the largest book festival in the United States, so I imagine it’ll be quite something. Plus, compared to Edinburgh, the weather is sure to be amazing. What a rush!
All I have to do now is find my passport.